This invention relates to an outboard motor and more particularly to an improved vibration and sound damping arrangement for such a motor.
As is well known, an outboard motor normally consists of three discrete units, a power head, a drive shaft housing and a lower unit that are bolted or otherwise secured rigidly together. The motor is mounted to the transom of a boat by means of a clamping bracket, swivel bracket and steering arrangement that normally is connected directly to the drive shaft housing of the motor. Although the internal combustion engine that forms a portion of the power head is normally contained within an outer cowling, the cowling is generally such that it does not effectively silence or dampen engine vibrations and noises. Furthermore, because the power head is directly coupled to the drive shaft housing, which is in turn affixed to the transom of the boat, vibrations are readily transmitted from the engine to the boat. The protective cowling structure normally used for the power head consists of a thin aluminum alloy or similar material. Such materials, however, have a relatively high natural frequency of vibration. Therefore, the protective cowling rather than eliminating vibrations can in fact resonate at a high frequency in sympathy with the engine and produce objectionable noice.
It is, therefore, a principal object of this invention to provide an improved vibration damping arrangement for an outboard motor.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an outboard motor in which vibrations from components of the motor are isolated from the transom of the associated boat.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved and simplified vibration dampening arrangement between the power head and transom of a boat so as to reduce vibrations and noise.